{"id":14908,"date":"2017-06-21T22:02:24","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T02:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=14908"},"modified":"2017-06-21T22:06:48","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T02:06:48","slug":"worship-wednesday-how-deep-the-fathers-love-for-us-stuart-townend-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=14908","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – How Deep the Father’s Love For Us – Stuart Townend"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"blog-movement-church-how-deep-the-fathers-love-worship\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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[Adapted from the Archives]<\/p>\n

Worship can be a deeply emotional experience. In fact, sometimes, we lose our focus on God Himself in the midst of the singing of a familiar song. Our minds wander as memories of other times and places take us out of the moment. Not a bad thing necessarily, but\u2026<\/p>\n

That happened to me recently as the praise band at Movement Church<\/a> opened the hymn How Deep the Father\u2019s Love For Us<\/em>. I love this Stuart Townend hymn. He published it in 1995, the year we moved to Cairo, Egypt. New to us, this hymn became a standard in our family from those early days of adjusting to a new life in another country. [This and another hymn of his \u2013 In Christ Alone<\/em><\/a>.]<\/p>\n

On Fridays, we would join other internationals and a smattering of Egyptian Christians, at Heliopolis Community Church, and we would sing and pray in English. Such a refreshment to our souls as we spent most of our week, learning and using Arabic in our work and with neighbors and friends. English was our worship language.\"blog-international-church-worship-how-deep-the-fathers-love\"<\/a>Photo Credit: CCCLux<\/a><\/p>\n

Sweet memories of hot Friday mornings, singing with believers from all over the world, as the call to prayer broke through from a nearby mosque. Sweet memories of a oneness with each other\u2026and with God.<\/p>\n

Then my thoughts sprang back to the present, as the gathered church at Movement<\/a> sang this lyric:<\/p>\n

Why should I gain from His reward?<\/em><\/strong>
\n I cannot give an answer;<\/em><\/strong>
\n But this I know with all my heart \u2013<\/em><\/strong>
\n His wounds have paid my ransom.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Because of what Christ did for me\u2026for us\u2026on the cross, I am no longer separated from God by the penalty of my rebellion against Him. The debt I built up through life is paid in one great act of God through Christ \u2013 His perfect, sinless life substituted, in death, for my own sin-filled mess\u2026for our own. There is nothing left to pay\u2026nothing. Christ paid in full, on the cross, for all our sins.<\/p>\n

At what cost? Oh\u2026we can imagine the considerable cost Jesus paid because our own flesh cringes at the excruciating pain of the cross. Yet, we also must take in, as much as we can, the cost to the Father. Such great love <\/a>He has\u2026for His own son\u2026and for us\u2026each one of us. The whole world<\/a>, in fact.<\/p>\n

When Stuart Townend was writing this hymn, he was very aware of the emotions that can be elicited in praise music. Just as I have described, the personal joy, refreshment, and happy memories that can be so satisfying in the experience of individual and corporate worship. His hope was to write in such a way as to help the worshiper get beyond himself and to a greater awareness of God.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe danger now is that we are so focused on the experience our worship can become self-seeking and self-serving. When all of our songs are about how we feel and what we need, we\u2019re missing the point. There is a wonderful, omnipotent God who deserves our highest praise, and how we feel about it is in many ways irrelevant!\u00a0 I want to encourage the expression of joy, passion and adoration, but I want those things to be the by-product of focusing on God<\/strong> \u2013 I don\u2019t want them to become the subject matter. I\u2019m trying to write songs that refer to us as little as possible, and to Him as much as possible!\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Stuart Townend<\/a><\/p>\n

Hymns like How Deep the Father\u2019s Love For Us <\/em>complement our prayer life and study of God\u2019s Word. For those friends of ours who don\u2019t yet believe\u2026those who say, \u201cThat\u2019s nice for you that you believe God. I just don\u2019t believe like you do.\u201d\u2026we have a witness in worship.<\/p>\n

It is not just that we “believe”\u2026 What Townend describes in this hymn, reflective<\/a> of the truth of Scripture, isn\u2019t just what we believe\u2026it is what happened and was witnessed by others \u2013 the deep love of God displayed in the self-emptying life and death of His Son. Hallelujah!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Worship<\/a> with me.<\/p>\n

How deep the Father\u2019s love for us,
\nHow vast beyond all measure,
\nThat He should give His only Son
\nTo make a wretch His treasure.
\nHow great the pain of searing loss \u2013
\nThe Father turns His face away,
\nAs wounds which mar the Chosen One
\nBring many sons to glory.<\/p>\n

Behold the man upon a cross,
\nMy sin upon His shoulders;
\nAshamed, I hear my mocking voice
\nCall out among the scoffers.
\nIt was my sin that held Him there
\nUntil it was accomplished;
\nHis dying breath has brought me life \u2013
\nI know that it is finished.<\/p>\n

\"blog-how-deep-the-fathers-love-youtube\"<\/a>Photo Credit: YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

I will not boast in anything,
\nNo gifts, no power, no wisdom;
\nBut I will boast in Jesus Christ,
\nHis death and resurrection.
\nWhy should I gain from His reward?<\/strong>
\n I cannot give an answer;<\/strong>
\n But this I know with all my heart \u2013<\/strong>
\n His wounds have paid my ransom.<\/strong>*<\/p>\n

\"blog-movement-church-how-deep-the-fathers-love-worship-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.<\/em> \u2013 1 John 3:1<\/a><\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.<\/em> \u2013 Galatians 2:20b<\/a><\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

*Lyrics \u2013 How Deep the Father\u2019s Love For Us<\/em> \u2013 Stuart Townend<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video \u2013 How Deep the Father\u2019s Love for Us<\/em> \u2013 Cover by Joy Williams<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video \u2013 How Deep the Father\u2019s Love For Us<\/em> \u2013 Lyrics (with Scripture portions that support them)<\/a><\/p>\n

The Depth of Christ\u2019s Love: Its Cost<\/em> \u2013 John Piper<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video \u2013 Story Behind the Song \u2013 How Deep the Father\u2019s Love for Us<\/em> \u2013 Stuart Townend<\/a><\/p>\n

The High Cost of the Cross<\/em> \u2013 Joe Crews<\/a><\/p>\n

Hymn Reflection: How Deep the Father\u2019s Love For Us<\/em> \u2013 Adam Faughn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Adapted from the Archives] Worship can be a deeply emotional experience. In fact, sometimes, we lose our focus on God Himself in the midst of the singing of a familiar song. Our minds wander as memories of other times and places take us out of the moment. Not a bad thing necessarily, but\u2026 That happened … Continue reading Worship Wednesday – How Deep the Father’s Love For Us – Stuart Townend<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2126,183,50,910,903,33,18,317,795,432,719,887,1178,1456,610,47,946],"tags":[3870,3868,1835,3871,1117,3869,2021,688,898,4809,2777,49],"class_list":["post-14908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-culture-religion","category-god","category-gospel","category-grace","category-inspired","category-jesus","category-lessons-learned","category-love-2","category-music","category-reconciliationforgiveness","category-remembering","category-sacrifice","category-steadfast-love","category-thanksgiving-or-gratefulness","category-wednesday-worship","category-worship","tag-adam-faughn","tag-how-deep-the-fathers-love-for-us","tag-jesus","tag-joe-crews","tag-john-piper","tag-joy-williams","tag-movement-church","tag-sacrifice","tag-salvation","tag-stuard-townend","tag-wednesday-worship","tag-worship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-3Ss","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14909,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14908\/revisions\/14909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}